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This video discussed your mind and how we really cannot escape the “dirty” things or unpleasant thoughts that often plague us, because they live within our mind and so do we. This reminds me of last week’s assignment about suffering and creating a space between ourselves and our intellects and minds; the Sadhguru states that we cannot escape the contents of our mind, whether it be through physically leaving on a vacation or trying to push the thoughts out. He also mentions how we cannot “clear” our minds or throw out certain ideas, because we will simply retain them again as “new” ideas.
At the end of the video, the Sadhguru says that we have options: we can either “become filth, develop an allergy to filth, or use the filth and work it into your fragrant blossom”. This stuck with me because when dealing with thoughts we don’t like or going through situations in life we’d rather not go through, an easy method is to try and force yourself to stop thinking about it, or push it to the back of your consciousness. We also love escaping; I think everyone has felt that they needed to take a vacation to get their mind off of things (developing “an allergy”), when the truth is they will travel everywhere with you, because they live within your mind.
Building off of last week’s topic I think the right approach is to try and create that space or be able to establish a distance between yourself and the mind, and you will realize that the situations you are currently in aren’t as bad as they seem. Likewise, this video promotes the idea that once you accept the fact that you can’t control the contents in your mind, or try and throw away these bad thoughts, you can come to live with them and not be so affected.
This is a practice I have been trying to incorporate into my everyday life: things happen, and we must learn how to live with them. Even when discussing our feelings with others we might be hesitant to do so because we feel negatively, but we have to make peace with it if we truly wish to find a higher state of mindfulness.

This video highlights how we should “keep the dirty things in our mind,” in order to digest it and hold onto the lessons learned, because in the long run, they will come back to you. I found this video interesting because I am in the prime of my generation who are looking for an ‘escape’ from reality or a break from the real world. Our minds and our bodies are a package, so regardless of the ‘vacation,’ you are always carrying around your baggage. The lesson learned is to create distance/space. This space between your mind and body creates a healthy cognitive and physical life. It allows you to evaluate things from memories, yet also adapt and absorb the new. “Don’t be in it”- Sadhguru.

By knowing all of the nonsense but being untouched by it is the most powerful thing. These qualities make you a stronger and well-rounded human. Sadhguru discusses how people travel in order to run free, and leave their past behind. I can relate to this thought because I was fortunate to being sent to study abroad in the Netherlands. At first, Amsterdam was a forgein place to me. New culture, new lifestyle, new approach to life. I was overwhelmed and feeling lost. Then these feelings soon turned into a rebirth of self, and I was able to grow as an individual. This place became a fragment of ‘home,’ and I began to create and leave memories. Regardless of me being abroad, I always carried my mind and my morals with me. I never felt a sense of freedom from oneself. I continuously thought of my family, and friends and brought their spirits with me.

I am a firm believer of ‘everything happens for a reason,’ so I try and learn something from any good/bad situation in my life. By ignoring or eliminating thoughts, it will just create uncertainty and dishonesty in ones life.

Being completely open and honest; the idea of our minds as a garbage bin was offensive at first. I was curious and engaged to hear more, the details the explanation for this “aromatic” metaphor. As I continued to listen and watch carefully, I got it. This was quiet beautiful. This metaphor although distant at first got closer and closer, now I can embrace it. My mind was in awe, the usefulness of a garbage bin. I have not even thought twice about the importance of this object. It collects, it is necessary, absolutely he made a beautiful point. This collection and absorption begins from the beginning of life, children are the prime example of this absorption. It is evident at its purest form. It is similar to that saying “Monkey see. Monkey do.” The absorption continues until the end of our lives, it is now a large garbage bin. But this garbage bin, has formed us, created us, molded us. This collection of experiences and growing from them is true beauty. This statement reminds me of the lily. A lily blossoms from the murky, dark waters. I felt spiritually connected to the lily since I was in high school, I remember repeating these words to myself: “Blossom from the murky depths”. Although Sadhguru used a different metaphor for this practice and experience, I have always embraced this idea. Unfortunately I do not want to go into detail about who and what exactly, but someone dearly close to me apologized for something that occurred throughout my life. I had looked at them in the eyes and said “Do not apologize, you have made me the person I am today. It was necessary for my formation. I would not have wanted it any different.” It is important to embrace the filth. Everything has importance and an effect. We cannot run from our filth, we will always carry it. “It doesn’t matter where you run away, you still carry your mind with you.” This statement reminded me of Baudelaire’s reflection of the romantic traveler. He refers to this theme in several instances. The traveler moves in the search of “new” to escape the mind, the Voyageur realizes in the end that he is bound to the chains of his mind.

Le Voyage by Charles Baudelaire is one of my favorite poems of his. He is also my favorite poet. Le Voyage is broken up in seven parts almost like seven stages of thinking and experience. I recommend this reading although it is quiet long and heavy in its vocabulary. I will attach one of the translated versions below, if you are interested. I think it is relevant to the idea of Sadhguru had about running away.

I found it interesting when he said “the content of your mind is not your choice”. I guess I never truly thought about this before but I see what he means when he says that everything we experience is in our mind, and it is only what we are exposed to is in it. This cannot be controlled so in turn, the content of our mind and thoughts is completely out of our hands. He compares our minds to our garbage bins. We have so many thoughts in our minds and we cannot control what we take into our minds, but we do not have to sleep in our garbage bin. We can push those thoughts away, the thoughts that hurt us and sadden us. We are able to push them away and keep them in the garbage bin. We do not have to wallow in bad thoughts. We have them, yes, but we do not need to dwell on that part of our lives. We can separate ourselves from those thoughts in order to live a happier life.

The content of our minds is not our choice. This video discusses the content we should not think about in our minds. Sadghuru states that we cannot escape the things we should not think about because if we throw them away they will eventually be brought back to our minds because it will be new information to learn. Basically its not possible to get rid of the “dirty” content in our minds. He says not to get rid of these dirty things we think of because they are important. As long as we don’t live our dirty thoughts it is okay. Once you distance yourself from the bad content of your mind you will be okay. I found this video very valuable and I will try to take Sadghuru’s advice to help better my own mind

Sadhguru seems very confident in everything he says, and he comes across as a very wise man. It is true that we cannot control the content of our minds. Our five senses are constantly taking in things, and your mind is absorbing it all. I liked the analogy Sadhguru used of a garbage bin. Our negative, unwanted thoughts should be kept in the garbage bin. We can open the bin and retrieve them when we need to, but we do not live in that bin. There is no way to prevent nasty thoughts from entering our minds. It is ignorant to say that a person can stop thoughts from appearing. Ignorance is not bliss, and we should embrace all sorts of thoughts. Learning how to channel my energy and sort “positive” and “negative” thoughts/feelings is a major goal of mine.
Sadhguru has a soft, reassuring voice. I enjoy listening to his teachings and I have begun to watch other videos of him. The things he says seem to relate to my life. I am becoming more mindful throughout my day.

This video talked about the ‘dirty’ things of our mind and no being able to escape it. I never really thought that our ‘dirty’ thoughts were needed to maintain spirituality. I have always tired to keep ‘dirty thought out of my mind in order to stay positive. However, from now after listening to this video I will reconsider the idea of ‘dirty’ thoughts. The thought that ignorance is bliss is funny to me because, I dream to have as much knowledge as possible. Understanding the knowledge and not letting it affect you is the difficult task with my self and other, well at least I think.
Building from other topics we’ve discussed, I’ve seen through the practice of the Isha Kriya and the understanding not to let things get to me, I will maintain my inner peace. I slip up at time and let my ‘dirty’ thought get the best of my, I know that’s due to my anxiety. I’ve been doing the Isha Kriya more and more so comfort and a line my thoughts.

The content of your mind is not your choice is a topic that hits to the core of one of my fundamental quandaries of life. As a kid and even as an adult, you always here the phrase “free will”. This notion of the consciousness being separate from the physical body’s senses and the environment. To make a choice or action without any outside factor effecting the decision other then your consciousness. This concept perplexed me due to its convenience and lack of evidence in the face of almost any situation used, but also from the fact that most things can be explained from as what Sadhguru explained ” your senses always gathering”. What is in you mind is always genetically and environmentally dependent.
If your brain grows a tumor and it puts pressure on the part of the brain that controls thrust. You simple will never know you need a drink and will most likely just die, unless you drink due to you being conditioned to know you need water after long periods of time. One experiment i viewed as a kid really cemented this possibility of the world and it involved ants and the formic acid they create when you see them all walking in a line. If you collect enough formic acid and repeatably apply it with a paint brush in a circle on some surface, the ant that walks into it will continue to walk in that exact circle till you have either used up all the acid or the ant dies from exaltation. Experiments like this have made it hard not to see “the bodys” as mechanical and reinforcing the idea of the content not being our own choice…..sorry for the other two post, computer troubles.

n this video Sadhguru discusses and explains the ways in which the content of your mind is formed by everything around you and you have no choice as to what comes into your consciousness. It is decided by where you are in your life, where you grew up, where you live, where you have been etc. what goes into your mind can go beyond your perception and be deep in your consciousness, so deep that it might never even come up. I agree with this because for the most part we are a product of what made us, where we come from as well as of the society we are apart of. It would be impossible to to not absorb what happens around us, this idea will help me sort my thoughts when trying to sift through my thoughts, feelings and emotions.

The Content of the mind is not your choice, Sadhguru tells us. The choice is in how we relate to this content. It is our choice live in to the content, or to let the be where it belongs, and allows ourselves to be where we belong. It is impossible to control what enters the mind, because everything we encounter enters the mind. I understand what he means and sometime when I am “in the garbage can” I have the sensation of being totally surrounded and overwhelmed by my thoughts, and controlled by them. It is a very liberating feeling to “climb out of the garbage can” and have a scope and perspective from outside of it. that is when control is obtained.

This video comments about the “dirty” things in your mind and how we cannot escape them. At first, when Sadhguru compared the mind to a garbage can, I was perplexed. He made it seem as though the garbage can is a staple within the household. However, the more he spoke, the more I thought about this concept and agreed with it. There must be a place in your life for excess, as humans tend to indulge quite often and end up with an abundance of excess materials, possessions, and thoughts. The unfortunate part of this comparison is that the necessary garbage can we carry is our minds.

Similar to what Sadhguru mentions, we find ourselves trying to escape the deep recesses of our thought quite often. This made me think of all the times I try to distract myself from my thoughts by possibly surrounding myself with friends, taking a trip to a nice place, or partaking in any other distracting activity. “Ignorance is bliss.” I wonder now what would happen if I stopped trying to escape from the garbage in my mind and came face to face with it. It would be difficult, but also beneficial to step outside of myself and look at my situation objectively. How could I tackle my problems head on without crumbling? Since, as Sadhguru stated, the “dirty” thoughts will travel with you anywhere and the only way to get rid of them, recompose yourself, and maintain a level of peace in yourself is to come to terms with your personal garbage can.

Sadhguru reminds us that the content of the mind is not our choice. We are constantly surrounded by things externally that negatively contribute to our though processes, that put us down that sometimes make us feel there is no hope or no escape or even no good in the world. Sadhguru speaks to the fact that we do everything in our power to avoid these negativities or “dirty” thoughts through distractions, perhaps through superficial or meaningless pleasures. However I think the point that he is trying to make is that although we can’t control the content we can control whether we allow ourselves to exist there and let it overwhelm us. For example our “president” is a constant flow of just negativity and constantly promotes that. However we can choose whether to indulge in this or not. I don’t mean by replying to his tweets or blocking him I think that for every ridiculous thing he posts or says, we can post 5 more things that positive contribute against what ever it is he is doing, whether it is about legislation, the climate change or even something not even related like a recent art exhibit that we went to. If we choose not to indulge in these dirty thoughts or give value to them we will not validate them to seem important and they will become less significant. If we continue on our own paths to do what it we need to and what is important to be campaigning for instance. I hope that makes sense..

This video discusses the content we should not think about in our minds. He states that it’s impossible to rid yourself of dirty thoughts. Don’t even try to do it because it will come back maybe even stronger the next time which i agree with. As long as you don’t live these thoughts and turn your “dirty thoughts” into reality it’s okay to have them. Nobody is perfect but the effort must be made which is the point that he trying to get across in this video.

I love the idea that the mind absorbs everything that it comes in contact with, regardless of whether the individual chooses to download this information. This must be why we are unable to escape the unclean thoughts we have, because there are some things that we can’t help but see and experience. It’s only when we come to terms with the mind as a place to store the excess, that we can understand why it’s important to allow these thoughts to be a part of us, but not dwell on them. We can coexist with these “dirty” thoughts, so long as we don’t allow them to affect our emotional state or our decision making process.

To think of the mind as a garbage can does seem a bit harsh, but it is also extremely accurate. This is precisely the reason why people have repressed memories. Their minds have already downloaded the information, but instead of coming to terms with those thoughts and refocusing their minds as Sadhguru says, they bury them. Then when the body’s energy becomes chaotic these memories present themselves in a negative fashion. This causes intense panic and fear, and the individual is no longer capable of learning from this “negative experience”, and can only dwell on the negativity they are now abruptly faced with. We have to allow the mind to store our excess, but keep it separate from our intelligence so as to avoid suffering.

Recently, I have been reading about preferences and what influence our preferences as humans. Currently, our sexual/emotional preferences are influenced by the state of our society, so it is often focused on euro-centric features, proximity to whiteness, and social status. The moment Sadghuru said “the content of your mind is not your choice”, it sort of cemented what I have been learning.

It is very true that what goes on in our heads is a product of where we come from, where we are planning or have been told to go, and where we are now. The reality is that our personalities are shaped by what surrounded us the most; we can definitely change and unlearn who we are, and this is a part of accepting responsibility for your personality-based actions – but accepting that incidentally, the thoughts that shaped you were fed into you and then your mind grew from what it knew.

Our mind is constantly gathering information even when we are not conscious. Our minds soak up a lot during our waking moments, so imagine what it is going through when you are unconscious. You cannot tell your mind what not to think about (our minds can be very rebellious and would want to focus more on what its not supposed to, especially during moments of anxiety and overthinking), but we can tell our mind what to think about. We can’t say “don’t think about apples and oranges”, but we can say “think in detail about the best banana you saw”.

Since we cannot choose the current contents of our minds, the next best thing is to choose the most positive content to soak up the current with. I really liked Sadhguru’s analogy of a garbage disposal being so useful that you decide to sleep in it, and then your life becomes terrible. I understood this as overuse and overdoing which brings me back to the main point I’ve been learning throughout this course – balance. You cannot open your mind completely and unsafely and then immerse yourself – that is harmful. You must protect your mind and keep the important things, and even the “dirty” things are important because then allows you to learn how to discern.

The original question asked was in regards to someone being aware of their nonsense and knowing that they create pain for themselves because they experience “the pain of the mind” but they did not know how to address it. Sadhguru answers with the calm response of “the content of your mind is not your choice.” He states that the content of your mind has to do with where you are and how you have no choice in what you gather. Which is very true, our five senses never stop taking things in and our minds absorbing everything surrounding us. I liked when Sadhguru used the word “absorb” because it made me think of our brains as sponges and I remember my dad relating our brains as sponges when I was younger. “Ignorance is Bliss” can be true but only for a period of time, but no matter what life will catch up to you and this is true regarding any circumstance, karma will come full circle and your blissful ride will eventually end. I really loved when he spoke about how jumping off a building is wonderful and will not hurt you but what will hurt is when you hit the ground, followed by the quote “the fall never hurts, its the stopping.” There is no way to prevent dirty/ bad/ sinful thoughts from entering our minds and running from all of the pain and negativity (“developing an allergy for filth”) will never take it away. He also says not to get rid of these dirty things we think of because they are important and the ideas of how you must address it head on and understand that this is a part of you, and allow for the filth to allow you to blossom. Also most things that our brain retains are things that form in our unconscious memory, when we are awake and asleep, and they will crawl and make their way back to us and we can’t allow this to continue to hurt us because in my opinion, that is only what will destroy us!

The contents of this video explore an idea similar to that of escapism and how our minds can be prone to it. The circumstance is not unlike the persistence of a bad habit. Escapism itself is often described as the avoidance and attempted purging of boring, exhausting, perplexing, and otherwise negative aspects of one’s daily life. Some end up carrying this out through the withdrawing of the mind into itself, especially when the mind has gathered so much information on the outside world and personal outside experiences .

A highly significant part of Sadhguru’s video entails dangers of perpetually being alone with one’s thoughts for too long. Even if we decide to escape these thoughts, we’ve already registered them so deeply into our subconscious that they will accompany us regardless. This trails its way back to his words, “It doesn’t matter where you run away, you’ll still carry your mind with you.”

There have been times in my own life where I retreat into my own mind and shut certain thoughts out as a coping mechanism, where it really wasn’t a very productive way to cope at all. The more I resorted to this tendency, the more difficult I found it to emote outwardly. This could easily be read as a more passive demeanor on the surface, rather than free any potential for assertiveness from within. What Sandhguru’s words promote is that while the mind’s contents cannot be controlled, it is worth it to delve through your thoughts and separate your negative ones from your positive. To a larger extent, one can also become more comfortable with external expression and make peace with the mind within.

I really like the passive view of the mind that he gives. This idea that we are not in control of what we gather. Its an interesting way to frame experience. while we are conscious of is happening, it is still out of our reach. we do not choose to experience what we experience, we only have sway on how we experience it. I was at first confused by the Garbage Bin metaphor. I wasn’t sure where he was going with it until he started talking about how if we were to rid ourselves of filthy thoughts than we will inevitably encounter them again. This lead to an interesting idea of creating distance between ones self and their mind. Once the distance is there, it does not matter what is in the mind, because you are no longer being as closely affected by it.

I found it compelling when he began speaking about the idea that “ignorance is bliss”. I thought it was really great when he compared it to sky diving. While falling it is beautiful but inevitably you will hit the ground hard. You cannot escape the pain , only avoid if briefly. I really liked when he said, “falling does not hurt, its stopping that hurts” I found that to be a very intriguing way to look at it.

Im trying to think about how I can incorporate what he said into my own life. Im not too sure how to do this. My first thought is to simply meditate. Especially the Isha Kriya. “I am not even my mind” seems to resonate with everything that he had said. This idea of distancing my self from my own mind. It sounds impossible and Paradoxical. This makes me think back to Buddhism and how there would be certain contradicting ideas that one is supposed to meditate on for years until it begins to make sense.

Yes I do hope you revisit your yoga journal and see how these ideas sit with you after they have time to marinate in your thoughts, all the answers you need are stored somewhere inside you, you have to just coax them out. Namaste

After listening to Sadhguru speak on whether or not we are able to control the content of our mind, I have been able to understand myself a little better. It is true- Sadhaguru asks the interviewer whether or not he can control his content of his mind at that exact moment, and fortunately, the interviewer is unable to. This explains why when we are in a bad mood, or a certain mood other than positive, we cannot just “snap” out of this. We must work on ourselves, as in where we are with our mindset.

Most of how we are feeling is not conscious, but rather it is subconscious. We are unaware of how we are feeling or even why we feel this way, simply because our five sense sort of put us in a state that distracts us from our true emotions. Whatever a person has been exposed to, whether we like it or not, is absorbed by our mind. We soak up everything knowingly, and most of the time, unknowingly.

Some people feel like ignorance is bliss, however, as Sadhaguru states, it is bliss, until “life hits you”. Being aware of your world, your surroundings and everything you absorb, is what will help you put your mind at ease and bring peace to yourself. My favorite line of Sadhaguru’s video, is when he says “you know all the nonsense of life, but you are untouched by this, which is beautiful”. Being able to understand your world and yourself, is what brings you bliss.

I thought it was interesting to learn that the content of your mind is not your choice. Rather than push away all the “dirty” and unpleasant thoughts, to accept them and realize why they are coming into your mind in the first place. I definitely agree with the idea that most things are created in the mind. He went on to explain that we our thoughts are completely out of our hands. I don’t exactly agree with this. I believe, with practice, we are able to control our minds to a certain extent. Instead of pushing away our thoughts, we should acknowledge them and try to figure out why it is we feel this way and through that we will be able to let that emotion go. I recognize that this is not an easy task, but with practice, this should come easier. Often times, we are creating a lot of suffering when we allow our minds to wonder and not try to control the thoughts. If we really took the time to understand where these emotions are coming from and acknowledge that these are just feelings, we can feel better.

In this video, Sadhguru talks about how the content of our mind is not our choice. It is decided by everything that is around us, our surroundings. I can only partially agree with this. While there are times when our minds just wonders around from one thought to another uncontrollably, we can certainly decide what goes into our minds. Just like what Sadhguru said, our surroundings and what we are exposed to affect what goes into our minds. We can certainly decide or chose where we want to be, and therefore have a control over our surroundings. Our control over our surrounding means a control over the content of our minds, although not full control necessarily.

I do, however, agree that our minds absorb whatever we come into contact with, doesn’t matter if we want or not. We might be able to out thing in the back of our minds and try to forget it, but it is most definitely already absorbed and existed in our brains.

It is also worth noting that we should not try to get the “dirty things” out of our minds because we do not have the ability to do that. Instead, we should just allow in to be there and accept it as part of ourselves.

I really enjoyed this video. I wholeheartedly agree that the content of our minds is not under our control. Whether we choose to or not, we absorb everything around us. Our brain is constantly working so it’s be sort of silly to think we have full control of it at all times. I think that’s why it’s so important to practice yoga and exercising the mind. We’ll never be in control of the content but we can get some sort of handle on how we react after absorbing something or what to do when faced with certain situations.

The analogy of our minds to a garbage bin was one that I really loved. It is not our ability to control our minds that we need to focus on but what we decide to do with that information. Also our minds, just like garbage bins, weren’t made to be perfect. They are useful. They are both important factors in our daily lives. It makes no use to get rid of the garbage bin, or the thoughts we can’t help but to think about. We always end up back at square one, taking in “new” garbage. The message here is to have discretion. Just because we acknowledge the dirty and filthy thoughts in our head, doesn’t mean we lie in them. They are to be kept as reminders of what we don’t want to come to fruition.

I believe practicing yoga strengthens your minds discretion. There were so many important points that Sadhguru made in this video. I’ve never agreed with ignorance being bliss or ignoring important things in this world because they trouble or worry you. Ignoring something is temporary bliss until it becomes too big to ignore and overwhelms you in ways you couldn’t even imagine. I’ve always felt it was better to accept things and prepare your reaction. Nothing is ever as bad as it seems when you’ve carefully thought about how you want it to affect you. Putting things into perspective and allowing your soul to separate itself from your mind and see it as its own entity is crucial in one’s journey. Although we don’t control our mind’s content, we do however control what we do with said content.

I really enjoyed this talk by Sadhguru. I found the part regarding “ignorance is bliss” to be very interesting. Sadhguru talks about how Ignorance is not actually bliss, and how it may only be a small vacation from issues. Overtime however, the issues one experiences will still follow them. I also enjoyed Sadhguru’s mention of three options that one has. To try to flee from the “trash”, as he puts it. Live in the trash, or to embrace to trash and to takeaway from it any positivity you can. I really wish the video talked a little more about how we can embrace the “trash” that we keep in our mind. I personally feel that I am the type of person who tries to flee from the “trash”. I would really like to know more about the ideas of embracing it. Overall I really enjoyed how the video outlined the options and concepts.

In this video, Sadhguru answers a question from the audience and explains how the content of your mind is not your choice. Initially, some people try and debate this but he continues to discuss how this is in fact true. Sadhguru explains that the contents of your brain are a product of where you are and what is around you, it is basically of what you come in touch with. He refers to the brain as a garbage bin, however he explains the fact that like a garbage bin is important to your house, your brain is important to your body. Like a garbage bin your brain stores all kinds of things whether it be good or bad. Some people think that they should try and get all dirty thoughts out of their mind however Sadhguru explains that he thinks dirty thoughts are important and one shouldn’t try to get rid of them. He says that it’s basically impossible to run away from your impure thought or your problems; you will feel good for a very short time and then they will soon follow you to wherever you go.

I enjoyed the video and I thought Sadhguru made a lot of interesting points. Along with the people in the video, I too was sceptical about the fact that he said that we don’t have control over the content of our brains. I figured that we obviously have a choice in the content in our brain because its our brain, why wouldn’t we have control of it? However, once he continued explain how we do not have a choice I realized he did have a logical point. Even if we try our very hardest, thoughts we don’t necessarily want in our brains will always be there. I was confused when he referred to the brain as a garbage bin because I never really thought as a garbage bin as being such an important necessity. Usually when something is referred to as a garbage bin, its has a negative connotation rather than a positive one. He makes a lot of sense when he says that people can run away from their thoughts or problems just by going on a vacation, your problems and bad thoughts will always be there, unless you try and work through them, they will always be prominent in your mind.
-Ashley Pagan

I was like to first note that I do not even need to listen to Sadhguru’s words to take a way a valuable lesson. It is in his demeanor in which I can understand peace. His tendency to accept the silence and speak slowly with a soothing voice and soft gaze is enough to put you in a state of tranquility. I once learned about a natural phenomenon coined as the Law of State Transference. This law explains how emotions are contagious and whatever you feel, the people you interact with will feel as well. Mirror neurons demonstrate scientific perspective of this phenomenon. If you are calm and relaxed, the person who you are speaking with will feel the same way. Conversely, if you are tense and agitated, this emotion will be felt by the other person. You can really feel the peace that Sadghuru feels when you watch his videos.
I found it funny but also incredibly wise when he talked about garbage being necessary. I deduced that the central idea of the video is that your mind soaks up everything that you experience in life, so you do not have control over the “garbage” that it inevitable soaks up along with the good.
One of the best ways to deal with the garbage that enters your mind is highlighted in Vadim Neland’s novel, Reality Transurfing. In it, he notes that the best way to deal with the garbage is to just focus on something else. He used the metaphor of an art gallery to pain the picture of this mental process. You can’t control the fact that there will be some paintings in the gallery that you like and some that you don’t like. However, you can just ignore the ones that you don’t like and focus on the ones that you do like. I find that what you focus on tends to manifest in your life. If you do not want the garbage, focus on the positives.
The “art gallery” method is a great way to shift your focus in order to experience a better reality. However, an even better way to deal with the garbage in your mind is to get out of your mind. There is a phenomenon called the “Flow State” in positive psychology, in which the mental state of a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. There are three necessary requirements to enter this flow state. One, you must engage in an activity that has clear goals and progress. Two, the activity/task must have clear and immediate feedback. Lastly and arguably most importantly for entering this state, the activity must reside in a level that more challenging than easy, but not too hard to the point where it exceeds your skill level. Many athletes and performers are able to enter this flow state because their activity meets these requirements. Entering this flow state is the best way to escape the limits of your mind and the “garbage” that comes with it. This state transcends the mind. People are transfixed by incredible athletic performances because this state can make the athlete look superhuman. Namaste!

Sadhguru responds to a question about how to silence the mind, to some extent. He makes the point that one can’t control the contents of the mind, as our surroundings truly decide this, and the mind simply interprets and reacts to it’s surroundings all the time. We can try to control our mind, but we can’t truly control our mind or what it thinks of. He makes the point that all information we receive, like dirty things, are important for us to keep. We can’t not think about them. However, we can “reposition” ourselves away from these things in our own minds.

This spoke to what I learned in a sensory and perception class this summer. The mind and eyes actually “see” all the stimuli around us, and prioritize some and “run” with some, so to speak, for many reasons. Some are evolutionary traits for self protection, and some are simply meant to help us stand up straight. Due to these priorities, however, in our modern day society, our mind will wander and prioritize things we don’t necessarily need or want to. And we can’t control this! But we can begin to become aware of how our own mind prioritizes the stimuli, and work with it. We’re processing everything all at once, and our mind somehow shuffles through all of this, and it is a beautiful thing. We can’t blame it for doing it’s job so well. It’s a very amazing evolutionary trait!

I connected his idea of “distance” to the Washington Post piece about meditation, and how it affects the mind. Meditation literally helps our brain bulk the areas of our mind which can control our emotions, and allow our mind to wander, allowing us a metaphorical distance from unstable or controlling emotions, and freedom from every day thoughts in the form of daydream and mindfulness. Through meditation, I think a sense of control and distance in your own mind can form.

I never thought about how the content of your mind is not your choice. I always thought that I can choose what my mind holds. The world around you fills your mind with what you see and learn and you have no control over what you see. I have always believed that modern day technology has filled our brains with mush. Fake and filter photos, setting the standards high for how someone looks or appears to others. Because we are scrolling through Facebook and instagram all the time, we are putting bad and mean thoughts in our minds. Like, “I wish I looked like her” or “why can’t I do what he’s doing”. Yes, these things happened before technology. But now, with filters and photoshop, we don’t know real from fake. Your mind is always traveling to different memories, wishes and desires.

I think the biggest thing I took away from video is that we may not be able to control what we see in the world and what our brain processes and remembers, but we can focus more and more on the good and staying positive. Something I have recently been trying to do is boost my confidence up. This starts with how I process what I’m told, see or hear and turning it into positive. Or if it is a negative comment or sight, trying to figure out, okay what can I do better next time and how can I learn from this. Rather then getting a negative comment and self pitying in it.

I agree with what he says about how, what happens in our mind isn’t our choice, it just happens and we have to learn to deal with it and be able to live with it. Realizing that you can’t control how you feel is something that i’ve been trying to tell myself for a few years now, and that the only way to deal with feeling upset, or sad, or anything like that is to realize that those feelings aren’t something you can control and focus on things that make you not think/feel that way. Because you can’t control how you feel or what your mind thinks, but you can control how you act because of it.

I confess that I had to watch the video a few times until I could understand what Sadhguru was trying to say. I felt a little uncomfortable with the analogy of my brain being a garbage bin. I see his point, but I don’t think I like to picture my mind as a garbage bin because I have bad memories, regrets, or bad thoughts. I recently watched another video of him that talks about the fact that people fight against their thoughts, and nobody will ever win this fight, because thoughts are part of who we are. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_nQcnDNHtg
We are who we are because of the things we did in life, which he explains on both videos. I can relate to what Sadhguru says about trying to get rid of thoughts. I constantly debate to myself in my mind. I think this video has a connection with what we were listening about nonattachment. We are also attached to ideas, memories, and illusions that hunt our minds. It is very hard to not get into the dynamics that we are used to in regards to our thoughts. This is where meditation comes to place, I think. The way I see his explanation about being able to embrace the filth as well the good memories makes me try to achieve that state of mind. Also, it is important to remember that everybody makes mistakes, and being able to forgive yourself is essential so you can live in peace.

This video was about Sadhguru talking about how the contents of one’s mind is not something they can control, that they should be aware of everything that is going on, bit try not to dwell on it to much and attempt to avoid the negative and distasteful parts of the mind. The fact that a person dwells on the contents of their mind is the problem, not the contents themselves. He then moves onto the concept of ignorance being bliss, saying that that isn’t the case. Just because you are not aware of something, doesn’t mean that that will always be so. Eventually, we all are faced with terrible truths and injustices that we have to come to terms with. True purity is knowing all things while being detached from them. Knowing all the nonsense of life but being untouched by it is true purity. The mind absorbs all, whether you are aware of it or not and it is up to you do decide if the things that you are aware of will bog you down and cause unhappiness.

I think what he said was very thoughtful and wise. I think what he said could help with people who suffer from anxiety or have hectic lives. Negativity isn’t necessary in one’s life, it only appears when you dwell on all the things going on in your head. In my life, I’ve been very anxious about certain things that wouldn’t really be a big deal if I wouldn’t dwell on it so much. A lot of stress can be derived just from focusing too much on the little things, so I thought his talk was very informed on how to deal with problems like that.

The things that you think about what your mind goes through is what you have been exposed to, what you usually think about is what has happened to you. Saghguru replies to someone’s question about how to stop something from going on in their mind. He explains that our conscious memory doesn’t realize or acquire memories from pasts, they are not chosen by yourself, and this has to do with how our 5 senses are exposed to these memories of or past. From being awake and from being asleep. Sadhguru says they are not in the form of conscious memory so we do not know it is there.

The pain that someone is in, is not because we want it there, it just happens. He compares the mind to a garbage bin, explaining how it is so useful, and as people today, we do not see ourselves living without it because we use it daily. We store things in the bin. The bin being our brain, yes, these things may not be useful to us, of course because we are throwing them away, but they are there because the bin is there to be used, just like our brain. As I recently stated, our brain does this with storing memories that we are not even able to remember. It just happens. Sadhguru explains how some people use ignorance to be untouched by life, but it only ends up biting you in the behind. One cannot merely ignore the idea of the world because, when you use ignorance, you are only revolving yourself around your mind, digging yourself into filth, the point he get to at the end of the video.

To my understanding, Sadghuru has the three options laid out about using your mind to your own advantage. Rather than ignoring it, or digging yourself deeper into the mind of yours, you blossom from it, you learn from the unconscious memories. It is the best option, from one to cope with the world, and their mind as they live through their life, acquiring more experiences as well.

I always say the scariest place to be is alone with your mind. It is easy to manipulate and can wonder and over think for days, it can even make up its own beliefs. The mind is very tricky and hard to get away from. I personally see how it is just a collector of things its surrounded by, even if it is just for a few minutes. Once your mind starts to wonder it kind of traps yo with thoughts and you have to occupy your mind to change your thinking. I like the points he made about vacationing. Many people say they can’t go on vacation more than two weeks because they’ll get tired of it or start missing their home. But in reality it is because reality will start catching up with them. My family has this tradition of going to Virginia Beach every summer for almost 20 years now as a family vacation. As I have gotten older I start to see there is no point in trying to keep something like that going if everyone brings their problems with them. There’s no settling of family feud before hand. There’s just awkward dinners, and game nights that end up in arguments because people are still stuck on the past instead of confronting each other about it. I’ve had friends who moved across the US for a change. But you can’t change just because you moved from everyone, you have to change the way you are thinking. I feel that’s where most people make the mistake of changing. You really can’t escape your mind until you decide to change your ways.

In this video, Sadhguru responds to a question about how to silence the mind. He states that one can’t control the contents of the mind. This is something I have never thought about. I’m not sure if I necessarily agree with it either. If I want to commit a memory to stay in my brain, I tell it to do so. If I have a nightmare for example, and don’t want to remember it, I chose to not think about it and my brain forgets it. However the forgetting method doesn’t work for me if it occurred in real life. This thought is interesting in well in the respect that as time goes on certain memories once remembered so vividly are now hazy. Is this because our brain does not see them as important anymore?

He says that our surroundings decide what we remember, and the mind simply interprets and reacts to it’s surroundings all the time. We can try to control our mind, but we can’t truly control our mind or what it thinks of. I again do not know what to think of this statement. I can think of whatever I please, but what is doing the thinking? What is telling the brain to think of such? This was such a thought provoking assignment that I can’t formulate a proper consensus.

When Sadhguru compared the mind to a garbage can, I found it to be a very interesting analogy, but it does make sense. The mind brain is like a very powerful storage unit. There are so many things that the brain sees and processes daily, and there are only more memories, sights, facts, that the brain interprets and keeps as one grows old. I really resonated with the idea that the mind absorbs everything that it comes in contact with, it’s amazing to think so especially referring to my previous statement that one experiences so many things on a daily basis. The human brain is one of the most intriguing things to me, and Sadhguru’s ideology only furthers my curiosity.

This video has an interesting take that is applicable to learning and growth in general. We all attempt to discipline our mind and our thoughts, through education, distraction, or certain practices such as yoga. However, what we do have in our mind we cannot control, and the content of all our minds is at least in part filthy and something that we do not wish others to see. As with most videos that I have found on this blog as of late, this is a bit terrifying but also liberating. In truth everyone that you meet could have awful thoughts that could be harmful to others, but it is how we express those thoughts that actually matters. Thus, if we have the ability to discipline ourselves to live the life that we want to live, free of filth and bad thoughts, then the thoughts that we do have don’t necessarily matter. This is a sentiment that, while not necessarily changing my day to day interactions, makes me feel more comfortable in my thoughts, knowing that everyone feels something similar and the way that we cope with them is what actually counts.

I also love the analogy of the mind and the garbage bin. We don’t often consider how important trash receptacles are, but they serve a vital role. If it weren’t for them, our trash would have nowhere to go. We look upon them as something that is generally fairly gross and unremarkable. But would you rather have your filth spread out for the world to see? This is exactly the process of our minds. We need a place to put the gross things that the earth has exposed us too, or else we would still be toddlers, blissfully unaware of all of the world’s filth. In that way this video reaffirms the importance of people’s brains in an unconventional way.

The video contains an interview with Sadhguru, and discusses his view on what he calls “the dirty thoughts” in our minds. He points out that it is uncontrollable as to what thoughts enter our minds, and that it is unhealthy to push these negative thoughts back. Instead, we should strive to understand ourselves and why these thoughts enter our minds in the first place. If we do not, the roots of these thoughts will cause long term harm.

I think that this is a really positive insight from Sadhguru overall, because it demonstrates that despite the fact that we cannot control everything about ourselves, we can at least control how we behave, how we handle ourselves, and how we react to problems. He does not ask anything impossible of people, or for anyone to be perfect at their core. All that he asks is that in the face of our own personal struggles, we do our best to understand them. In understanding them, we are then able to manage and control them.

I love the analogy that Sadhguru makes between confronting your thoughts, and falling. How falling is enjoyable, until the moment that you hit the ground. It works perfectly as a metaphor, and one that needs to be heard. So often, people put aside their issues because they are too difficult to confront, and don’t think of the long term consequences. I have even been guilty of this in the past, and it always leads to similar problems. It is not until we confront and think about why we are having these issues that we can begin to overcome them.

I was a little thrown off at first with this video because I didn’t know where the speaker was headed with his analogies. He at first started talking about your TV and such that you don’t need to survive, which I understood, but when the speaker started talking about a garbage bin and living in it I was a little confused and interested. He then referenced our minds to this how we think it’s so wonderful so we live in it and it will make our life miserable. I thought that this was genius and very clever. Another thing that I really loved was when he talked about our minds and running away. You can go wherever you want to try and escape your problems, but eventually they will follow you. You cant escape your mind and need to address and confront what ever it is that comes at you in life.

Wow, I think this video here was the most interesting one I have seen so far throughout the semester. Sadhguru uses a great analogy in describing the mind and a garbage bin. He is completely right when saying that we do not have control of our mind in terms of what information we take in or not. We can attempt to condition our mind to retain certain information over others but it is how we use that information which is most important. Understanding that we can close the garbage when need be instead of trying to escape that in which the garbage holds is important. We can keep all those problems there but not let them affect us negatively. It reminded me of the other gentlemen who said that if we have our next 50 years set up that anything that stresses out now in minuscule in comparison. We need to focus our energies into the positives of life instead of dwelling on those negatives.